BarfFromSpaceballs (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Wait, that chick at 1:46 wasn't a robot, was she?BTW where can I find the robot at 1:07 ?

mygaffer (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@demonjack Yeah, thanks for summarizing the Wikipedia article on the uncanny valley phenomenon.

Criterion515 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Sorry, but the image metrics clip should be representative of the bottom of the valley, certainly not at a spot almost at the top on the other side. It's close to coming back up, and maybe as far as starting the climb, but it's down there pretty far as to most eyes it's not that obviously CG, but there an obvious creepy aspect about it. Polar express belongs on the stylized side of the valley, pretty far up as it is still obviously CG, but also very pleasing to the eye.

luk0dab (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@dbrzdejmasakr That's exactly the Uncanny Valley (the second part of your message, not the first one): an ancestral defense technique. As ancestral as yawning (forgive the comparison, yet they are both not-so-explainable culturally or historically) :-)

luk0dab (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@p99fanatic That's so true! Physical appearance and features (it's not just seeing it, it is also feeling it, touching it, sensing its movement etc.) will always have a very high risk to fall into the Uncanny Valley.

luk0dab (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@ameridat That's the point: it falls into Uncanny Valley for so many people, including me. Of course watching it a million times I may get used to it... But the point is the first 999,999 times I see it, with my unavoidable Uncanny Valley reaction.

HappyRogueStatus (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

ImageMetrics?CaptiveMotion is a much higher quality animation studio for high fidelity facial motion capture

Flup2 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

"A robot stuck inside the uncanny valley is no longer being judged by the standards of a robot doing a passable job at pretending to be human, but is instead being judged by the standards of a human doing a terrible job at acting like a normal person."

Ren95 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

oh hey, mass effect soundtrack! :D

evensgrey (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Getting out of the valley is just a matter of solving problems until you're out (which is why trying has, so far, sucked up as much money as anyone's been willing to put into it). The consistent problem with all the speaking Japanese robots shown here is that their mouths don't more anything like correctly for the speech sounds, which is why they look so much worse than, for instance, the characters in the Final Fantasy movie.